Gretzky and the 1980s Oilers changed the style, pace of play in the NHL

So he set out to convince Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington to deal for the 17-year-old, who wove hockey magic like no one else.

“I remember telling Peter I had seen Wayne at an Indianapolis Racers morning skate (early in Gretzky’s first pro season in the WHA), and I thought he was the son of one of the players,” said Sather, the general manager of the great 1980s Oilers teams. “But then he goes and has two goals against our team, one from behind the net, and the other one he beat (the club’s best defender) Paul Shmyr. After I saw Wayne play, I thought, ‘This kid has all the instincts, he’s going to be a hell of a player. I talked to Peter and said, ‘You do whatever you have to do to get this guy.”

Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson in 1983, about to be thrust into the spotlight of the Edmonton Oilers’ first run to the Stanley Cup.

Photograph by: Edmonton Journal file photo

Pocklington acquired Gretzky from Racers owner Nelson Skalbania, and the legend was born. For the next decade, Edmonton hockey fans watched Gretzky set up in his office behind the net, banking pucks in off the goalie or finding the open man.

The Great One was always looking for the trailing defenceman on the rush or flipping saucer passes to sidekick Jari Kurri on two-on-one breaks.

After I saw Wayne play, I thought, "This kid has all the instincts, he’s going to be a hell of a player". I talked to Peter and said, "You do whatever you have to do to get this guy."
Glen Sather

Night after night, Gretzky showed a sixth sense for knowing where the puck was going, always two steps ahead of everybody else. The game seemed to slow down for him.

“Gretz was the first guy I ever saw (who would stand) behind the net ... throw the puck and hit the goalkeeper in the back and it would go in,” said John Muckler, who served as Sather’s associate coach during the Stanley Cup winning years, was head coach for the 1990 championship win, and stood behind the bench with the New York Rangers when Gretzky retired in 1999.

St. Louis Blues goalie Gary Edwards swipes at the air as Edmonton Oilers star Wayne Gretzky skates in during an NHL game at Northlands Coliseum in January 1982.

Source: Edmonton Journal file photo

“Wayne was so good behind the net. I think he bounced one off a goalie’s head one night in St. Louis. Nobody was as creative as Wayne. His passing? Phenomenal. You want a flat pass, a high pass? Those passes to Jari Kurri for the two on ones, always on the tape.”

The Oilers had five guys on the attack. The style was born after Sather watched the high-flying Winnipeg Jets of the WHA, featuring Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and defenceman Lars-Erik Sjoberg.

Gretzky was the ringleader on a team that featured Kurri, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson and Paul Coffey.

No NHL team played like they did in the ’80s, and the goals came in bunches — six, seven, even eight in a game.

Opposing teams could try to stop the circus-like Oilers, but they couldn’t emulate them.

“A lot of what the Oilers did in the ’80s set a trend for the National Hockey League. A lot of the game today is how it was with us in the ’80s ... the puck-moving defenceman like we had with Paul Coffey, the units of five (on the attack),” said Muckler, now retired and liing in Florida.

The game had more offensive pop in the ’80s, but when teams played the Oilers, it was rope and ride, the trap, slow it down.

A lot of what the Oilers did in the ’80s set a trend for the National Hockey League. A lot of the game today is how it was with us in the ’80s.
John Muckler

Gretzky also had protection.

“Gretz had a lot to do with the game opening up, but the thing about Gretz was he never got hit,” Muckler said. “We had Kevin McClelland there and Dave Semenko and some other tough guys to look after him, and they would take things into their own hands.

“Teams didn’t want to mess with Gretz because some tough guy would have been there.”

Today’s teams are always trying to get in the face of Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby, trying to disrupt him.

Not so with Gretzky. Opposing teams backed off because they were afraid he would make them look stupid.

“Yeah, that had a lot to do with it,” Muckler said, laughing.

“I watch Crosby today, and while he’s the best hockey player in the National Hockey League with all kinds of talent, with more power forward in him with his great speed and hands than Gretzky, who was more of a finesse guy.

“But Crosby’s biggest problem is his temper. He goes looking to hit somebody. That’s not his job.

“That’s where Gretzky was so good. We didn’t expect him to hit people. We wanted him on the offence. He’d be behind the net all the time. Eventually, he’d come back and stand in front of their defencemen.”

“There was a lot of clutch and grab, but with the stars, we could always work through it, up until the year Calgary beat us in 1986, where we scored into our net (Steve Smith inadvertently shooting a clear-out pass off goalie Grant Fuhr’s leg in the playoffs). Their plan actually wasn’t to stop Wayne, it was to stop Kurri (from getting his passes) ... The hooking and grabbing and interference in those days was really tough hockey for all of us. We played against that almost every night.”

“This is where the trap came in. It was the most boring thing that ever happened to the game,” said Muckler. “It was terrible. We went into Detroit one night and that was the first time we’d seen it.

“At the start of the ’80s, passing the puck the width of the ice in your end zone was a no-no. But we did it. And bringing the puck back into our end was the same no-no. But we did it.”

So how were the Gretzky-led Oilers able to beat the incessant checking?

“We had lots of speed, a big hockey club, mentally strong, lots of character. We were very aggressive on the ice, we loved turnovers, especially Wayne,” Muckler said. “We could cut the ice in half, move our defence (Coffey, Charlie Huddy, Kevin Lowe and the others) up to the red line. We’d send the forecheckers in, make the opposing team go to the outside. The puck got turned over an awful lot, and with Wayne and Jari and Mess, there was no team better than us.”

At the start of the ’80s, passing the puck the width of the ice in your end zone was a no-no. But we did it. And bringing the puck back into our end was the same no-no. But we did it.
John Muckler

When the Oilers visited opposing rinks, buildings were full. When they’d go to Toronto, the team bus would be waiting for Gretzky to wade through an army of autograph seekers for half an hour sometimes after games. One night, after a rare loss, one of the role players was ticked that the bus wasn’t leaving Maple Leaf Gardens — Sather told him to stuff a sock in it.

Edmonton Oilers forwards Dave Lumley, left, and Dave Semenko celebrate a Wayne Gretzky goal on Philadelphia Flyers goalie Pete Peeters on Dec. 31, 1981. It was one of five goals on the night for Gretzky, which helped him set the NHL record for fastest 50 goals scored in one season, in 39 games.

Photograph by: Edmonton Journal file photo

“You’re lucky nobody wants to talk to you and ask how the game went,” said Sather.

That was the last time anybody questioned Gretzky’s duties as the game’s greatest player.

He made the team go on and off the ice, and the Oilers were the game’s most entertaining team, by far.

“We’d fly into Toronto, go straight to the arena to practise, and the guys could hardly wait to get on the ice,” Muckler said. “All we’d do was drop the puck and away they’d go. We’d go for three quarters of an hour and never missed a pass.”

When the team tackled a new drill in practice, Gretzky would always go first.

“He’d always screw it up ... but I think he did it on purpose, so the guys would get a big kick out of it,” Muckler said.

The biggest difference Muckler sees in today’s game is shot blocking, not just by defencemen but by star players, as well. Everybody getting into the shooting lanes; you didn’t see that in the ’80s.

“I can’t imagine coaching Wayne or Mark and saying, ‘You’ve got to stay in the lane and stop the puck.’ I don’t know if Wayne ever blocked a shot. He’d flamingo, stick his leg up and puck would go through,” Muckler said.

Muckler, like Sather, was saddened when the Oilers dispatched Gretzky to the Kings in August 1988.

“The players were mad, and I know I felt, holy mackerel, the best hockey player in the world was leaving our team,” said Muckler. “Best person, too.

“He was the face of our hockey club. The team lost its identity, our style changed. We didn’t have an identity again until halfway through the 1989-90 season when we won the Stanley Cup and Glen managed to trade Jimmy Carson (part of the Gretzky L.A. deal) to Detroit for Joe Murphy, Adam Graves and Petr Klima,” Muckler said.

“I remember playing against L.A. the year Gretz left, and one night, Mark Messier took a faceoff against (former Oilers enforcer) Marty McSorley and the puck went back into our end and Marty ran Mess. He whacked him, and Gretz was on the ice and was trying to get into this brawl. Don’t know why. Nobody stopped Wayne. Our guys couldn’t divorce themselves from being his teammate,” said Muckler.

“I told our guys in the dressing room, ‘Look, we all love Wayne, but he’s the enemy now. You think that first drop of the puck where Marty hit Mark wasn’t designed? They knew exactly what they’re doing,’ ” said Muckler.

“I told them that Wayne had forgotten he was an Oiler. I said to Dave Brown, ‘Look, I’m putting you out against Gretz, and all I want you to do is shove him. Don’t fight him. Just shove him, and talk to him and somebody else will have to come in.’

“If Marty McSorley’s on the ice, he’s the guy who’ll come in. Nothing really happened, but I still remember Gretz coming across the ice and yelling at me, ‘You son of a gun, I know what you’re trying to do.’ I started laughing,” Muckler said.